Those of us that have been around for a while undoubtedly have a Tommy Norton memory. Mine is a fairly recent one; it was from the 2013 Somers Fun Turkey Run. My friend Dan and I took a break along a brutal “A only” section to make adjustments to our bikes after getting kicked around for several miles. I’ve ridden the local enduro that runs through the same area but had never ridden this trail before. It was gnarly – large, planted rocks, thick roots, and elevation changes. It was [Read More...]

The Freeride will make you want to ride some unusual stuff. The KTM 250R Freeride has been around for a couple of years now but this year marks its debut to the U.S market. Why has it taken so long for this intriguing new machine to land in the U.S.? Despite significant gaps in the off road market, KTM North America is still somewhat unsure of how successful the Freeride will be here. The earlier 250R models had some starting issues that have since been fixed, as have other areas of concern. [Read More...]

By Anna Svagzdys The morning of my first enduro is looking about as promising as one could hope. I didn’t fall asleep on my bike while waiting to go through tech (a real risk, as I had just gotten a grand total of one hour of sleep), it isn’t raining, and after a last-minute carb re-jet, my bike is running well in the chilly October air. Paperwork completed, my boyfriend Greg and I get changed and book it down the road to the start. While we wait for our minute to come up, Greg looks over [Read More...]

Tommy Norton blasts down a creek aboard the TE125. Producing a 125cc bike for off road use poses some challenges. On the MX track or in more open terrain, one can quickly and easily tap in to the strength of the 125 by keeping it wrung out and not letting it slip below the midrange. The Husqvarna TC 125 we tested in Florida last February was straight up awesome in the sandy, flowing terrain of Croom Motorcycle Park as it was easy to keep it pinned. But keeping a 125 pinned in technical terrain [Read More...]

By Kevin Novello I met an interesting fellow while on a stay in Maryland a few weeks back. He was a site supervisor that I got know fairly well one afternoon while waiting for equipment to be delivered. It turns out that he is part of a “preparedness movement”, which means he is preparing to deal with various world ending scenarios. In his back seat was something called “get home bag” that was filled with various survival supplies intended to help get him home in case a world [Read More...]